Between the Plans
by CyborgWithGreatHair
Summary: This is a series of short stories based within my story "Not as Planned". It is highly useful that you read Not as Planned first. Most of these stories will be centred around Diana and/or Halfred, two of my original characters from the aforementioned story.
1. Halfred, Do The Thing

_Every now and then, when I'm discussing my plot with my bestie, we come up with absolutely random scenes that go between scenes that I include in the story. The kind of scene that we find hilarious purely because of the back story we come up with to accompany it, but would slow the plot down too much if I actually included it. This is one of them._

 _This story takes place during Not as Planned at the club when Lester invites Greg and Halfred to join them. (Between Chapters 25 and 26). The story is from Greg's POV._

 _Things that are vital to know before reading this story_ _ **(in case you haven't read Not as Planned, which you really should first)**_ _: Greg and Halfred are from Rangeman Miami. Diana, the Miami branch manager, is a very dominant woman and has claimed Halfred as her own. She is fiercely protective of her feeble turtle duck. Ranger is dead. Rangeman was forced to change its name to RCM Security. Lester has assigned nicknames to the three RCM Security branches based on who is in charge there – Tankman, Dianaman, and… well, I'm not revealing the third just yet. I have plans for it :P_

 _Happy reading!_

 **Halfred, Do the Thing!**

We'd been in the club for about an hour and I was bored. The atmosphere was tame in comparison to the spicy Miami night clubs I was used to frequenting back home, but I couldn't skip out early without risking ridicule. Not that I cared what the Trenton guys thought of me. In fact, given that I was the guy they went to when they had something they needed to get off their chest and out of their heads, I was surprised they invited me along. I'd spent years treading the fine line between friend-and-colleague, and psychiatrist. It was interesting to interact with the others on that normal everyday level, because if you join in with their jokes and rough housing enough, they tend to forget that you're the head doctor that knows all their deep dark secrets.

Lester had insisted that both Halfred and I joined them on this almost lame excuse for a guys night out. And then, of course, Diana had threatened my life if Halfred returned to the building with so much as a scratch on his person. I didn't really get what Diana saw in the guy, but I knew damn well that I wasn't going to tell _her_ that.

Diana was a fierce woman, especially when it came to her personal men. And that only seemed to double the moment she decided she wanted Halfred. I'd had a few sessions with each of them. Separately, of course, because Halfred would never openly discuss how conflicted he was in front of Diana. On the one hand he was shit scared of her to the point of nightmares, but on the other, sometimes those nightmares turned into wet dreams. And, of course, Diana was also conflicted. She was drawn to Halfred, like she needed him in her life and in her bed, but she couldn't reconcile her need to protect him with her need for a strong man.

I'd noticed the way she treated him. Pushing him to his limit and then nudging just a little more. Dragging him off randomly to what we all knew would be an intense session of what she might consider lovemaking, but was probably a terrifying two hours of sweet torture for Halfred. I shuddered at the mere thought of being at the woman's mercy and could only wonder at how Halfred had survived this long. Probably a combination of a secret kink on Halfred's part and a protective instinct that kept Diana from taking him to the point of no return.

Either way, despite all the misgivings I might have about how their relationship could last and what the fallout would be like for both of them, it was none of my business. Besides, Halfred and I had sort of formed a friendship. Probably, it was based on the fact that we were both kinda different from the rest of the guys. We were both more intellectual than physical. Halfred's was more extreme, but that didn't change the fact that we were different from the rest. We had to stick together.

At the moment, Halfred was on his way back from the bar carrying no less than seven bottles of beer with his spindly, bare hands. He was always doing weird shit like that, proving how convenient he was to have around.

"Dude," Hal breathed in awe as Halfred expertly set down the seven bottles without spilling a drop.

"How'd you even _do_ that?" Lester asked.

Halfred grinned from ear to ear. He was a little drunk. "Physics," he stated, leaning one elbow on the table and taking the most casual sip I'd ever seen in my life. I'm pretty sure Hawk taught him that move a year ago when we'd needed him for a distraction. And I don't have to mention how pissed Diana was when she found out about the plan. She'd handed every single man on that team their ass in the gym as a _warning_. Not to mention what happened when he'd ended up getting shot.

"That's nothing," I mentioned, chugging half my beer in one go. I met Halfred's gaze for a second and we both knew what I was about to say. "Halfred, do the thing."

The shit eating grin that came across Halfred's expression was all I needed to see to know that whatever he was about to do was guaranteed to be good. See, while I made it sound like I had a pre-planned 'thing' in mind, I didn't. It was all up to Halfred's genius brain. That's the way it had worked ever since that fateful day.

 _I'd just flopped onto the sofa in the break room with a cold bottle of water in hand, utterly exhausted after the marathon shift. It had started the previous day with my usual nine til six, a bit of paper work, some basic skip tracing, a couple of sessions with guys who recently returned from government missions. The usual. I went home, had dinner, watched some TV and was preparing for bed by eleven when I got phone call._

 _The guys had organised a last minute distraction based on some fairly concrete intel they'd received that afternoon and I needed to be present as the inside man to let them know if anything tipped me off behaviourally as to the skip's plans. What a joy. When the skip was in cuffs and I was on my way back to my apartment I was called out to a takedown that had turned bad. That skip had somehow managed to take one of our guys hostage and I was now required to negotiate. Honestly, I'd just wanted to shoot him in the head and be done with it, but that was an awful lot of paperwork._

 _Finally, at six in the morning, I made it back to my apartment and crawled into bed when there was a pounding at my door. I opened it to find Damon pale as a ghost with a manic look in his eye. He needed to speak with me urgently. Before he did something he'd regret. The part of me that was devoted to my profession knew that I couldn't turn him away or_ I'd _regret t. The rest of me just wanted to sleep._

 _So I let him in and listened to him tell me about his dream and his urges and gave him my advice. By the time he was done it was eight and I had a report that needed to be sent to Boston by ten, so I'd dressed and made my way upstairs to start the day, despite not having slept. I finished the report on time and immediately went to see Always Stephen to get him to clear me for the rest of the day. There was no way I could function any longer on my lack of sleep._

 _A lot of the men would have scoffed if I'd complained about my thirty hours awake, reciting well worn tales about the time they hadn't slept for three weeks when they were trapped in a cave in the woods behind the Spanish King's country house, but I Always Stephen knew the importance of sleep for the body and brain. A few minutes in his sterile little office at the end of the hall and I was a free man until nine the next morning. The expectation was that I go to my apartment and sleep, but I couldn't be bothered making it that far and stopped off in the breakroom instead._

 _I tipped my head back on the couch and stared at the flat screen television mounted on the wall, and right next to it, the remote control, which had been returned to it's little Velcro strip. The one and only time I didn't have the energy to get off my ass and some genius had returned it to the place it was supposed to live but never ended up._

 _Fuck. My. Life._

 _Rolling my head to the side I noticed Halfred puttering around in the little alcove he'd claimed as his "lab". I didn't know what he was doing, all I cared about was the fact that he was on his feet and could pass me the remote with ease just by moving his legs._

 _"Halfred," I called "Do the… uh… thing…" I couldn't think of the words I needed in order to convey my needs. Apparently my vagueness didn't faze Halfred, though, as he crossed to his laptop and typed in a few commands. The next thing I knew, a Roomba with a mechanical claw affixed to the top drove across the break room floor in front of me. It stopped just to the left of the fridge and a small red light on the Roomba turned green and the fridge door popped open. The reached inside, grabbing a pre-packaged sandwich from the middle shelf. The Roomba reversed, green light returning to red as the fridge closed again. It then drove over to me and deposited the sandwich in my lap before going back to whatever hidey hole it came from._

 _I looked at the sandwich (Roast Beef. My favourite) and glanced over at Halfred. He had already returned to scribbling gibberish on his whiteboard. I didn't say anything. It wasn't what I'd attempted to ask for, but it was impressive all the same._

 _A few weeks later, we'd been hanging out with some of the guys in the breakroom when I decided to try impress the others. I'd glanced over at Halfred, sitting on the floor against the wall under the TV and said the same thing I had last time._

 _"Hey Halfred, do the thing."_

 _He'd looked up from the iPad he was fiddling with (he had the entire back off and was actually fiddling with the insides), his eyes moving swiftly from me to the other four guys that were now staring at him. His expression didn't change but stuck his arm out to the side, making a few random hand gestures before the TV suddenly clicked on. My eyes immediately cut to the remote on the wall and back to Halfred. He was staring at me. He made another gesture and the channel changed._

 _I remember wondering why he couldn't have done that last time as the guys marvelled. I'd actually expected him to do the same things as last time._

 _From then on, it became a thing, so to speak. We never discussed it, but whenever I wanted something interesting to happen I'd say the words and he'd make something happen. It was an unspoken agreement we apparently had. I never knew what he was going to do, but it was always epic as shit._

 _Halfred's_ things _were the main reason I was so good at masking my expression. I got a lot of practice hiding my surprise every time I told him to do the thing. It confused the hell out of the guys once we'd done it enough. "How does he know what thing you want?" they'd ask. I'd just smile._

 _Of course, the flip side of this was that it pissed Diana off to the max. For a start, she reserved the right to be the only one to boss Halfred around. And then there was the fact that when she tried to do it herself it never had her desired result. Alas, Halfred was not a mind reader, he just had a lot of tricks up his sleeve._

*o*

Lester and the Trenton gang stared from me to Halfred, expectation clear on their faces. Halfred didn't noticed, of course, because he was already typing away at his phone. Without glancing up he pointed at Tim who was in the middle of bending his arm behind his head. "Favourite song," he said.

Tim cut his eyes to Halfred an then the other guys. "Uh," he said eloquently. "Uptown Funk?"

Halfred nodded, still focused on his phone. He lifted on hand from the device, still typing with the other, and held up three fingers. We stared as he lowered one. Then another. And finally, the last finger went down. At the same moment, the song blasting through the speakers all around the room abruptly changed.

To _Uptown Funk_.

The Tankman guys were suitably impressed. As was I, but I'd never let them know that.

"How'd you do that?" Hank demanded, rising from his chair to lean across the table, obviously hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever app Halfred had used. Hank was one of two tech guys at the Trenton branch, but even together, he and Hector didn't come anywhere near the level of tech-savvy that Halfred had all on his own. He was clearly jealous. And mildly intimidated, if I was reading his body language right.

Halfred shrugged. "It's easy. I cased the sound system earlier and just used the app I created to hack it."

"Remotely," Hank pointed out. "What did you plant on the system?"

Halfred blinked, like he didn't understand. "Nothing."

The guys continued to ask Halfred question after question about his technology and what else he could do. The scrawny, intoxicated man obliged, telling them all about the things most of them didn't actually understand. I sat back and revelled in another wall torn down. Newbies to the Diana/Halfred thing tend to be wary and mocking toward Halfred. By showing them how much of a genius he could be when he wasn't being awkward or dragged around, I'd opened up the their minds to the possibility of Halfred being one of the guys.

My job here was done.

 ** _And so is mine. Keep an eye out for further updates. I have at least two more shorts to add to this series. Maybe three. I'd also like to know what scenes you all would like to see._**


	2. You Bought Me A WHAT!

_This story takes place before Chapter 27 of Not as Planned. I've written it from Halfred's POV as a bit of a challenge to myself. Let me just preface this with the fact that I know very little about technology… soooo….. forgive my attempts._

 **You Got Me a What?!**

Spare Apartment, RCM Security, Trenton

The room was quiet like it often was when we were together but not being intimate. It was peaceful and reassuring. With Diana sat on the couch, completely engrossed in whatever she was doing on her laptop, I was free to do whatever I pleased. So long as I didn't leave the apartment. I'd learned that during these times, despite the fact that she was paying absolutely no attention to me whatsoever, sneaking away would anger her immensely. Which would ultimately lead to her asserting her power over me. In the bedroom. And while she always made sure my needs were met, the moments leading up to my release could be absolutely terrifying when she was trying to prove a point. I tried, as much as possible, to not provoke her to that point.

So while she was quietly entertained, I sat at the table with my iPad, working on the schematics I'd started earlier in the week. I'd had the idea the moment I saw Tank's prosthetic arm and how rudimentary it was - I wasn't even sure it fit him right. It had a little bit of functionality – a pincer like grip with some ability for individual finger movement, but not a lot. In the line of work he was in, it would be a severe disability. I couldn't imagine him walking the streets with an arm like that, it would be worse than going armless. At least with an entire missing limb there could be rumours circulated about how he lost it. Something tougher than the gangrene that ultimately prompted it's amputation.

I'd taken it upon myself to design some modifications that would improve his quality of life. I didn't think it would ever get to the point where the modifications would be implemented, which was a shame, but I thought it would be good to have the ideas on file. Maybe I could work on it as a side project if I could get my hands on some more stills of his right side. Easily enough done, I could have hacked the system with one hand tied behind my back, especially before I redesigned the firewalls.

Pinch zooming on the sketch as I looked for a way to fit a grappling hook in amongst the mess of compartments and mechanisms I'd already drawn in, I let out a small sigh. This would be epic if I ever got to build it.

Diana let out a sigh as well, though her attention was still glued to her screen. Usually, a sigh like that meant she was close to being done with whatever it was she was working on. Not done as in almost finished, but done as in sick of it. Now was a prime opportunity to bring up a topic that mattered to me, before she was completely over it and used my body as a distraction from her work. Maybe Diana could think of a way for me to gain access to Tank's arm so I could better understand how it works. Google searches and medical articles were helpful, but hands on knowledge was key. If I brought up the topic now, I could possibly get a decent discussion out of her. And as an added bonus, she would be grateful for the distraction.

It was a win-win situation.

"Tank's arm could use some upgrades," I stated, trying for a casual tone, one that didn't suggest I was working on an agenda. I needn't have put in so much effort, though, as she was still too involved in her laptop to be concerned with my tone.

"What do you mean?" she asked, shoulders straightening ever so slightly from the hunched posture she'd taken on as her session extended.

I shrugged, despite the fact that she couldn't see me. "I dunno," I said. "Just, like, some additions to make it more functional. Like screwdrivers and stuff."

There was a long pause. I thought she might have returned her full focus back to the screen and not paid my statement any attention, but then she shrugged. "I suppose."

That was as close to an agreement as I was likely to get with Diana, especially without her full attention, but the fact that she was still distracted could also be useful. If I could get her to agree to something before she realised what she was doing I could be working on a robotic arm before long. I had to be cautious, though. Too much too quickly and she'd become suspicious. _Keep it simple for once, Halfred,_ I encouraged myself dragging all five fingers across the screen to switch to the 3D view I'd mocked up earlier.

"I think I could do it," I mentioned, still trying to keep that casual tone.

"Do what?" Diana asked. Apparently I'd paused a little too long in my contemplations and she'd lost track of the conversation, delving back into the document she was working on.

"The upgrade," I said simply.

This caused her to look up from the device on her lap for the first time. She stared at me for several seconds, a calculating expression on her face. Probably, she was replaying everything I'd just said in her head, making sure she was up to speed. Though she could also be trying to think of how on earth I could manage to add a screwdriver to Tank's arm without making it look stupid.

"Come off it," she finally said, screwing up her face. "People train for years to make those prosthetics. You really think you can do better?"

Rather than try to argue my point verbally, I stood from my chair and crossed to sit beside her on the couch. I deliberately sat so that our thighs were touching, because I knew that if I sat any further way she would just proceed to pull me into her lap, and even in the private of the apartment it was humiliating. I held my iPad out for her to see, setting the image to slowly rotate while I spoke. "See, if we use a titanium frame for strength and utilise the unused space in this section here, we should be able to insert some tools and mechanisms to make it similar to a multi tool and-"

I trailed off. An unconscious glance toward her face showed that her eyes were glazing like they always did when I started talking about anything even vaguely technical. My time to get everything I needed to say was limited. Before long she would be completely zoned out, thinking of things of a primal nature, rather than the technical drawings I was showing her.

"And with a switchboard concealed under the synthetic skin layer it should be easy to-"

I didn't get any further. Diana had set her laptop on the coffee table when I approached and was now removing the iPad from my grasp to set it beside it. I let her, but not before I managed to turn it off. I had an intricate system of passwords and gestures to protect my files. You could never be too careful, especially when Diana was involved.

Once the devices were out of the way, she pushed me back and climbed over my lap, straddling me. As far as our intimacy goes, it was a mild session. Almost boring compared to the balls to the walls events that she usually subjected me to, but it was satisfying none the less, and an hour later we were lying in a tangled heap on the floor between the couch and the coffee table where we'd tumbled at some point. Diana had my glasses on her face and was moving them up and down as she stared at the couch. She did this sometimes when she was lost in thought, something about helping her focus, or channelling the nerd thoughts. I just laid there, trying to not bring attention to myself.

It didn't work.

As I took a deep breath, which in turn lifted Diana an inch or so, since she was sprawled across my chest, her head snapped around to look at me. The sight of her eyes focused completely on me, magnified by my glasses which she'd settled on her nose, was rather disconcerting, but I met her gaze resolutely.

"You should tell Tank about your plan," she said firmly.

My brow furrowed of its own accord. It wasn't that I didn't really want to take on the challenge of upgrading the prosthetic. I just didn't think Tank held a very high opinion of me. I certainly didn't want to be alone with him if I ever did scrape up the courage to suggest it. I didn't think he'd go for it. Not if _I_ suggested it. But Diana and Tank had history. He'd been her boy toy in the past. If anyone knew how to manipulate him into giving up something vital to his survival, it was probably Diana. God knows she's got a talent for it. The key here was to carefully manipulate _Diana_ into doing what _I_ wanted. I'd watched her carefully for a while now, and I thought I'd picked up a few tips.

"He'd never go for it," I said with an ever so slightly resigned shrug.

"Sure he would," she assured me. It was quite possibly the most supportive thing she'd ever said. It had me wondering if my manipulation was working or if she had an agenda of her own here. Anything was possible with Diana. Like, maybe she was just trying to goad me on so she could watch me fail. I tried to put those negative thoughts out my head and focus on trying to convince her that I couldn't possible even attempt to suggest this plan to the large, one armed man.

"I'd need to borrow his prosthetic for several weeks," I pointed out. "He kinda needs his arm. There's no way he'd part with it for that long."

I thought that pointing out the futility of the idea might persuade her to do my bidding. Apparently I'd miscalculated, though, because all she did was shrug, give my shoulder a hard bite – the way she showed affection – and said, "Suit yourself." In the next moment I was alone on the floor, my glasses resting on my chest where she'd discarded them as she stood. I didn't have the pleasure of watching her pert behind as she walked away, because a) there was a coffee table in the way and b) my vision was blurry without my glasses.

I sighed and dropped my head back to the floor. Back to the drawing board it was, then. I'd have to scour the security feeds for some usable frames to base my measurements off. Maybe I could buy a second-hand prosthetic on eBay.

*o*

Two Days Later: Parking Garage, RCM Security, Miami

After a long day of trying not to look suspicious or nervous while Diana practically sexually harassed me in the airport, and the plane, and the airport again, and then, just for good measure, the SUV on the drive back to the building - I was lucky I wasn't pulled aside for a random strip search – Greg pulled the SUV into the parking garage and proceeded to the elevator ahead of us. I'm pretty sure Diana's antics had made him almost as uncomfortable as I was.

I'd just opened the trunk to pull out our duffle bags when Diana appeared beside me, her tote bag slung over her shoulder. "I have a present for you," she announced.

My spine stiffened, immediately on edge. The last time she'd uttered those words, I'd been strapped to a wall upside down while she had her way with me. Apparently the harness that kept me from falling was my gift. I let her keep that one. God knows she would be the only one putting it to use. As much as I'd eventually enjoyed the end result, I was not a fan of the blood rushing to my head.

"Oh?" I managed to squeak out, keeping my gaze on the bag I was dragging toward me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as she pulled her 'present' from the tote bag and offered it to me with both hands. A gasp escaped me and my resolve to not look directly at whatever she revealed shattered. "Is that-?" I asked, turning to face her fully, my eyes roving hungrily over the item.

"Tank's super basic robo-arm?" Diana finished my question for me, a smug smile spreading on her lips. "Why yes, I believe it is."

My hands were itching to look it over my closely, but I had some more questions first. Namely, how she'd manage to get it to Miami. "Did you have that in your bag when we went through airport security?" I asked. I could only imagine what they'd thought of that.

Diana rolled her eyes. "No," she said sarcastically. "I wore it as a hat."

I couldn't help the way my face scrunched into the picture of disgust. It was a natural reaction. "That's creepy."

A sigh fell from her lips and she switched her hold to one hand, shoving the other onto her jutted hip as she gave me a _look_. "If you don't want it, I can take it back," she said.

"How did you get him to agree to it?" I asked, ignoring her words. I needed all the facts. I needed to know if I needed to make my way to a safe house to avoid being pulverised by a very large black man.

She shrugged. "I showed him your sketches."

"YOU WHAT?!" I cried, louder than I'd intended.

Her face was the picture of confusion, so perfect in its expression that I knew it could be nothing but fake. "Did you not hear me?" she asked innocently.

I gripped the strap of my satchel bag where it crossed over my chest, wanting to dig my iPad out and make sure everything was exactly how it should be. "Those sketches were in a password protected file on my personal iPad. In. My. Hand," I pointed out, totally losing my grip on my very mild temper as I raised my voice at the woman. "How did you even gain access to them?"

"I watch you closely," she replied calmly. "I've learned a thing or two."

"Just-" I stammered. "But-" I felt my face heating and could only imagine the shade of red it was turning. "My sketches!" I finally bit out.

Diana was getting exasperated now, a clear sign she was losing patience. "Well what did you expect me to do? Steal it while he was sleeping?"

I hesitated, aware that my answer could offend her. "Kinda…"

She snorted, relieving a tiny bit of the tension that had gripped my chest. But then she spoke and it all came back to me. She was one hundred percent done with my reaction. "Do you want it not?" she demanded.

I didn't think a second longer, grabbing the arm from her hand and making a dash for the stairwell. "I'll be in my lab," I called over my shoulder as the door closed behind me.

 ** _If you'd like to see more of Diana and Halfred please let me know. Or let me know what other scenes you'd like to see me add in here._**


End file.
